8 Rap Battles That Should Have Went Down

News

You hear that? That’s the sound of beef cooking. Okay, so it may not be in the same legendary realm as Roxanne Shante vs. UTFO, LL Cool J vs. Kool Moe Dee, Common vs. Ice Cube’s Westside Connection or Nas vs. Jay-Z. But the recent lyrical rounds between Philly spitters Cassidy and Meek Mill and the surprising rhyme spat pitting Azelia Banks against newcomer Angel Haze has managed to make headlines. That said, there are the dream match-ups that, for whatever reason, never officially took hip-hop’s most storied blood sport to wax. VIBE has put together eight battle rap encounters that would have more than lived up to billing. Keep it on wax.

LL Cool J vs. KRS-One

Match-Up: How is it possible that two of the most feared, insanely competitive MC’s of the golden age hip-hop era never took it to the stage? Certainly during their prime years LL and Big Kris both cast enormous shadows that could not have been any more divergent. Mr. NCIS: Los Angeles reveled as the multi-platinum, B-Boy heartthrob who was just as likely to take your girl as he was to destroy you in a rhyme battle. LL Cool J’s verbal rumbles against the aforementioned Moe Dee, Ice T, MC Hammer, and Canibus have now become the proverbial stuff of rap legend. Meanwhile, despite his notoriety as the most ardent and respected voice within the hip-hop socially conscious scene, KRS gave no quarter to those foolish enough to take on the Blastmaster line-for-line (the man single-handedly stared down the Juice Crew for God’s sake). This one would have been epic. Winner: Toss up. Basically you are looking at the perfect storm of rhyme battles. LL’s and KRS’s ridiculously mammoth egos alone would have been worth the price of admission.